Gonzo sports journalism

Mr7134 · Apr 7, 2007

Gonzo sports journalism, for want of a better term.

I'm currently reading â€œA Fighter's Heartâ€ by Sam Sheridan. For those unfamiliar with the book I'll quote the Amazon.com description.

Book Description

In 1999, after a series of wildly adventurous jobs around the world, Sam Sheridan found himself in Australia, loaded with cash and intent on not working until he’d spent it all. It occurred to him that, without distractions, he could finally indulge a long-dormant obsession: fighting. Within a year, he was in Bangkok training with the greatest fighter in muay Thai (Thai kickboxing) history and stepping through the ropes for a professional bout. That one fight wasn’t enough. Sheridan set out to test himself on an epic journey into how and why we fight, facing Olympic boxers, Brazilian jiu-jitsu stars, and Ultimate Fighting champions. Along the way, Sheridan delivers an insightful look at violence as a career and a spectator sport, a behind-the-pageantry glimpse of athletes at the top of their terrifying game. An extraordinary combination of gonzo journalism and participatory sports writing, A Fighter’s Heart is a dizzying first-hand account of what it’s like to reach the peak of finely disciplined personal aggression, to hit—and be hit.
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Anyway, this book brought to mind one of my favourite sports books. It's, â€œLooking for a Fight: How a Writer Took on the Boxing World - From the Insideâ€ by David Mattews.

I'll quote the Amazon.co.uk description though it doesn't do the book justice...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Looking-Fight-Writer-Boxing-Inside/dp/0747262357/ref=sr_1_4/026-2141659-3970805?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175970523&sr=1-4

Synopsis

When Dave Mattews began to research the strange underworld of boxing, he found that many were reluctant to talk to a writer looking for colour pieces without really understand the sport. So he decided to take them on at their own game and began a two-year training programme so he could have one professional fight. "Looking for a Fight" is Matthew's story of his own battle for fitness, the difficulty of learning how to punch properly and how to take a punch. Above all he reveals what really motivates the characters that he worked and trained with. What makes someone risk their life for a purse of a few hundred pounds? Why do so many boxers believe that God is on their side? Is boxing a force for good in our society? This is an account of boxing from within and without.
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What does do the book justice is one of the customer reviews...

This is an inspirational book whose appeal is by no means limited to fight fans and boxers. Essentially it's the journey process of one man who decides to cast aside the drudgery of his meaningless and unchallenging day to day existence, in order to undergo a physical and mental transformation, to test his personal limits and learn about himself.

Along the way he learns and divulges with great linguistic skill a number of other things about the world of boxing, about his relationships with his girlfriend, his father and his daughter. He comes face to face with brutality and poverty and he deftly and shamelessly reveals his fears and insecurities baring his soul throughout with humility and a great deal of humour.

Matthews' time as a journalist has obviously instilled in him acute social observation skills and his depictions of the gym, the characters that revolve around and within it and the world in which it resides are vivid and colourful - invoking a true sense of the shadowy culture that surrounds professional boxing, without making it seem inaccessible or out of reach and thus irrelevant.

Chances are, if you're reading this review and considering buying the book it's because you're into boxing anyway, but there's very little in this book not to recommend to a complete boxing novice also. It is a classic "believe in yourself and anything's possible" tale without a hint of corniness, and as such it's a very rare thing!
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I found these books fascinating. My favourite sports book is, â€œKing of the Worldâ€ by David Remnick because he's a truly great writer dealing with an interesting time. However there is something though about the writer as participant in the realm of sports. I like, â€œThe Fightâ€ by Mailer but by participant I mean more than that. I mean there is something strangely fascinating about the writer trying to be an athlete and enduring the athlete's experience.

Can anyone recommend any more books in that vein.?

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Gonzo sports journalism

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